'Tomorrow' I said. 'I'll post' I said. Never listen to me.

Anyway, I was writing this just after posting it and, as usual, lost the file, then I couldn't remember how I'd written it and didn't like later attempts, and I managed to leave it for four and a half months oh my god. If you're still keeping up with this fic I honestly congratulate you I am the worst writer ever .

I have a new laptop with a non-wacked battery now and I've finally learned my lesson and am writing in word instead of notepad, so hopefully I won't leave it so long in the future.

So, thanks to Lucillar for faving me, and to Ghostdragon101, Lucillar, Leader of the Hoplites, WillTRiker, Lacrimas-Aeon, isabellamegan114, Anime-ModeXD and OtakuDrag0n for favouriting this story, and thanks to Dyrezz, BlackFiraRose and OtakuDrag0n for your reviews. And srs thanks to literally everyone who's putting up with my dead writing schedule, heh.

Link wandered into the room first, staring about in awe. It was an L-shaped corridor, a pristine red carpet leading the way through the isle. Either side was lined with pillars, each made of stone carved into detailed symbols that looked blurred from a thin layer of settled dust. The surrounding walls bore the same inscriptions, repetitious enough to appear to be some form of language. Perhaps most striking was the throne that sat upon its dais at the end of the room before the door. The young boy ran his hands along the scratchings on each pillar as he slowly walked towards the throne, stirring the dust into little clouds in his wake.

Dark Link followed him in, his unease clinging to him like a stifling cloud. The opulence of the room paled to beneath his notice. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the suit of armour that sat in the throne. "Link," he muttered softly. "Don't go any closer." Link halted and the room fell into disconcerting silence, even their breaths seeming muffled.

Link looked back at his companion, still teary-eyed enough to make any kind of impertinent remark. Dark Link didn't say anything else, no matter how long he stared. All he heard was the faint whispering of the wind that seemed to come from the gaps in the door behind the looming figure.

It was a long while before Navi broke the quietness. "We have to go past it, though."

Still, Dark Link didn't utter a word. He did, however, begin taking slow steps towards the metal polypheme. Link felt his nerves grow from his odd behaviour.

He wasn't entirely sure what happened next, it happened too fast for him to process.

One moment Dark Link was walking towards the armour suit with sword drawn and one hand reaching forward, and the next he had run back to Link, pushing him behind the cover of the closest pillar. It's... alive?

Dark Link hissed a curse as its gargantuan axe dealt a harrowing blow to his shield. It was soon followed by another that made him stumble.

"Watch out! That's an Iron Knuckle!" Navi flittered towards it. "If it's axe hits you more than a few times, I don't think you're getting up again!"

Instead of giving any kind of response, Dark Link sidestepped past the enemy as it heaved itself towards him, leading it further away from the pillar Link hid behind. The axe swung again and again, but missed.

Link watched, mouth dry from fear, as Dark Link lead the monstrosity round in circles, narrowly avoiding certain dismemberment with a dance of leaps and stumbles. The creature obviously grew irritated at the missed blows, as it brought the axe down into the shadow's raised shield with a stroke that looked far too deft for the lumbering hulk.

The attack knocked Dark Link to the ground, but the axe buried itself into the stone floor a few feet before him. While the Iron Knuckle struggled to pull it free, he took his opportunity to dissipate into a shadowy mist that sank into the floor, only to gather behind the giant and reform into a Hylian body with sword raised. Metal met metal and the armour let out a growl of pain moments before it heaved its weapon from the ground and whirled it around, hitting Dark Link square in the side and sending him sprawling across the room.

Link cringed behind the stone and watched the routine continue Dark Link took blow after blow to his shield, avoiding any major damage to himself, but it was clear to see that each strike was physically draining to uphold against. He had landed a few more hits before his steps began to falter, but it clearly wasn't enough. He managed to ungracefully hurl himself to one side as another overhead swing was aimed at him and made his counter-attack. As the Iron Knuckle roared again, he ducked behind the nearest pillar, bracing himself against it to keep himself upright.

The Iron Knuckle picked its axe up and shook off some of the remaining pieces of plate mail, and the trio watched in horror as it redoubled its advance at twice the speed. Barely a moment passed before it was stood before the pillar and lifted its weapon.

The pillar crumbled.

In an explosion of dust, the debris was pitched into the wall, taking Dark Link with it. He fell to the floor among the rubble, gasping for air.

While he lay winded, the Iron Knuckle turned, its thundering steps headed straight for the column Link hid behind. The blow was deafening, and his mouth opened to cry out, but the sound didn't come. Instead, he lept back, deftly dodging the speared tip of the axe and the crumbling stone. The armoured goliath stepped over the pile of stone and continued its assault. Link dodged blow after blow, but his mind felt blank. He acted purely on either instinct, or copied the actions of his felled partner.

Whichever it was, it made his mind scream at him to leap to one side when the axe came down from above. It firmly embedded itself into the floor, giving Link the opening for his next blow - an attack he put all of his effort into.

The clang sounded gratifyingly loud to Link's ears, and the Iron Knuckle let go of its weapon. There was a pause before it staggered back a few paces before falling to its knees. Individual pieces of armour fell to the floor and burned up until there was nothing left but a room full of rubble.

In his shock, Link stood in the middle of the room staring at the scorch mark on the now filthy carpet.

"Hey, are you okay?!" Navi's voice drew Link's attention to the pile of demolished stone where Dark Link was. She had landed on his shoulder as he was pushing himself up, brushing the dirt off his face.

"Fine," he responded quietly before coughing on inhaled dust. Link ran over and handed him a potion, which he took without a word. It wasn't until the bottle was empty that he looked up at Link and smiled. "I guess you're stronger than I thought."

Link shrugged. "The block was pretty heavy…"

"Not so heavy you couldn't have managed it."

"Is that an apology I hear?" Navi huffed. "My, that's a first."

"Just for that, it'll be the last." He muttered back.

Link found himself smiling, mostly out of relief that he seemed to be okay. "Apologising doesn't make you weak, you know."

"Tsk. Would you listen to that; I'm getting wisdom from a 10 year-old." He answered with a grin.

Navi snickered. "You need it."